The Depths
by JP-Morgana
Summary: Fugaku has decided that Itachi and Sasuke must be married off to restore the family name. But they have already chosen people to love and cherish; each other. As the whole word starts pressing in on them, what will they do to protect the love that they have chosen for themselves? And what affect will the deeds they have done have on the stability of their lives and minds?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: A Ritual and a Soft Goal**

On a humid and sticky summer night, Itachi Uchiha walked through a dense forest along a narrow path. The leafy canopy blocked out the light of the gibbous-phase moon and the shining stars, making it impossible for normal people to see but a few feet ahead of them. But the very abnormal Itachi had a gift that allowed his vision to pierce the darkness around him. He had magic eyes.

They were imbued with a power called the Sharingan, an ability based in blood that was passed down to the Uchiha alone. His power made the cornea of his eye sine a deep crimson red. Three comma shaped marks were on the cornea, surrounding his pupil as if they were the vertexes of a triangle with the apex directly above the pupil. The stems faced away from the pupil. Among the Sharingan's many and elusive powers was the ability of greatly augmented sight. As an owl flew past him, Itachi could trace it's individual feathers. The ability was something he took for granted, a given since the day he was born.

Because of his vision, he was able to follow a barely beaten path. The path had been used and well kept perhaps twenty years before, but it had since fallen into disuse. It was strewn with weeds, and large tree roots were beginning to spread into and jut out of it.

Though he was in the physical prime of his life, Itachi was sore all over. He had left his home at midday, and now it was nearing midnight. Though he had allowed himself the rare break, he had been walking for the better part of eleven hours. His eyes hurt in particular, strained from keeping up the Sharingan since nightfall. It was only the thought of reaching his goal that propelled him on. Every time he felt like collapsing, he called to mind memories of soft porcelain skin and hair as dark as a raven's coat. They belonged to his beloved, his brother Sasuke.

Those thoughts fueled him as he walked, and after a long night Itachi came to the end of the path. There stood a quaint and well kept home. It was simple, a mere one story, but there was an air of pride about it. The roof was made of straw, and the front sported a circular window and a wooden door with a rounded top. The dusty road that Itachi walked on gave way to a beautifully cobbled path that wound it's way to the front door. On either side of the path, there was a luscious garden. The left garden grew herbs and spices, and and the right garden grew fruits and vegetables. The house seemed surreal to Itachi, as if someone ripped from from an old servant's fairy tale and placed in front of him. Considering who he sought, though, this was hardly a surprise.

His boots made a satisfying sound as they stepped on the cobbled walkway, akin to the sound they made on the hallway floors in the castle Itachi called home. This granted Itachi a burst of much needed confidence, even though that confidence was competing with a very reasonable degree of fear. Itachi had been warned about the woman he sought, and it was only the depths of his desperation that had pushed him here tonight.

He stepped up to the front door of the house and took a deep breath. Slowly, he raised his his right hand, and rapped on it loudly, flinching at his own knocks. The noise was an intrusion on the serenity of the forest and the night.

A faint light shined out of the window beside him, and without turning his head he perceived it in full. Realizing his Sharingan was still active, he quickly shut it off. The cornea of his eyes returned to their usual black coloring. A shroud of darkness descended over Itachi's eyes, and his fear overpowered his short-lived confidence.

The door in front of him opened a few inches, creaking menacingly. An old woman's eye appeared in the crack. "Who are you? What do you want with me?" Her voice was ragged from years of disuse. The woman was obviously agitated at her beauty sleep being interrupted, Itachi thought.

"Hello." Itachi said in a weak voice. He cleared his throat, and stood taller, though his voice didn't change at all. "I am here to purchase your special talents."

The woman's heavy breathing was laced with frustration. "I do not like having people on my property," the she said. "I haven't in many, many years." She clicked her fingernails on the door to demonstrate her impatience. "I am going to kindly ask you to leave. I will only be kind once." Her fingernails left marks on the door that instantly disappeared the moment her nails were lifted.

Every part of his body screamed at Itachi to heed her words. It was so intense that it felt foreign, and yet no less urgent. But he would not let his fear daunt him. He had walked a long way to get here, and he would have a long walk back. He had an important task, for him and his brother, and he was not to leave empty handed.

"I have something that you may have interest in." His hand disappeared in his cloak.

"Ha! What could you have that I would want? I have no need for money nor luxuries. My existence is solitary, and I have all that I need," With her ancient and bony hand, she pointed to the gardens in front of her house. "They are bountiful, and I have rarely felt any want since my isolation."

Itachi withdrew his hand from the shadow in his cloak, and with it came a transparent wine bottle. A symbol of leaf with two grapes on either side of it was raised in the glass. It signified that the contents of the bottle were the best of the best, made by the most famous winemaker for miles around. The old woman paused.

"Is that the symbol of the famous winemaker Kurenai?" The single eye thats she had revealed was widened, and glazed with a sort of lust that was unique to alcoholics. Itachi internally smirked, glad that the rumors of her alcoholism were true.

"Yes," Itachi said. "It will be yours, if you help me." The woman's hand reached for the bottle, but Itachi withdrew it and stowed it back in his shadowy cloak. With this power that he had over her, he felt his confidence slowly trickling back.

The woman unlatched her door and motioned Itachi to come in. In her haste, the candle she held was blown out. Itachi could hardly see her face. He dared not activate his Sharingan, for it would out him as an Uchiha, and the Uchiha were very well known. He needed this trip to be discreet.

The woman took him roughly by the arm, she was very strong for her age, and dragged him into her darkened house. She sat him down on a wooden chair, and his arm banged on a table that was in front of him. He gripped the arm rests of the chair, and realized that a thick coat of dust had made it's home on the chair.

He looked around the house, but unaccustomed as he was to normal vision he was hardly able to see a thing. The woman withdrew into the depths of the house, and then she lit another candle. This candle had three wicks in it, and it shined much brighter than the one she used to come to the door. She brought it to the table in front of Itachi and placed it down, then sat in a chair that faced him.

Finally, Itachi saw the woman in proper light. He was sad to see that the rumors of her having three eyes and a hooked nose were false. The rumors of her magical beauty seemed to be fabrications as well. Her skin was wrinkled and splotchy. Her long gray hair was parted into two sections, and each fell over one of her shoulders. Her eyes pierced Itachi's, and he felt as if she gleaned all that she needed to know about him.

"How did you hear of me?" She asked.

"The peasants whisper about you. There is a boy that my brother knows named Naruto, who claims that his father's father was once your friend. That man's name was Jiraiya. He was a famous writer."

The old woman laughed loudly, yet bitterly. "Jiraiya, huh? So he became a writer, did he? That man and his schemes. Tell me, how were the books?"

"Not the sort of thing a decent person reads, and yet it seems everyone has read them," Itachi said. "I'm one of the few who haven't, so I'm sorry to say that I can't tell you."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Trash, then. Can't say I'm surprised. You say your brother knows his grandson. How is the boy doing?"

"Poorly, his parents both died the day he was born. He's currently living with a soldier, but they've fallen on hard times," Itachi said.

The woman shook her head. "Poor boy. The world is a cruel place indeed. But one mustn't worry about what one cannot fix." She leaned forward in her seat, and braced her right arm on her leg, and her left hand on her knee. "Let us instead focus on what I can do. What do you require of me, stranger?"

Itachi leaned forward, afraid of anyone who by some cosmically unlikely chance would be listening in. He said in a hushed tone, "There are people who I need to be rid of."

"Curses," the witch muttered. "Always curses." She held up her left hand, and it began to glow a very faint green. "These hands can heal better than they can harm, and yet all I am ever asked to do is the latter. No matter. How many do you need to be rid of? And how terrible must it be?"

"I cannot say how many. I also have no idea how bad it has to be. I just need them gone," Itachi answered.

"You cannot say? You do not know?" The witch asked incredulously. "You have come to me and you cannot even tell me what you need. How ridiculous?"

"I don't know how many people will become a problem. It could be two, it could be ten, it could be fifty! I have a great task ahead of me."

"Tell me then, what is your situation, your goal? Perhaps when I have a better understanding of what you want, I can advise you on what you need."

"My father is trying to marry me and my brother to reputable ladies that will preserve the family name. But he and I are not interested in women of that sort. Our interests lie elsewhere. We wish for our interests to be indulged, and to ward off any women that my father brings to us. But I need to do it in a way that doesn't track back to me. I can't use poison or other conventional means, for that would be too easy to track. One slip up is all that it would take. I also can't employ others to get rid of them, because then I'd have to trust them. I trust only one person, and he's part of the scheme. Witchcraft seems to be the best option."

The woman eyed him carefully, "Are you nobility?" The question caught Itachi by surprise. The witch laughed. "Your face tells me all I need to know. I don't know why you think it's so far fetched that I could figure that out for myself. Your story is so high class that it smells like perfume." Her face fell. "Of course, if you are nobility, I can only guess that you're an Uchiha." Itachi said nothing. "Go ahead, show me your Sharingan." Itachi did nothing. "Your payment can count for double if you do. Let me gaze into that pinwheel that causes so many people despair."

Itachi closed his eyes, and when he opened them his Sharingan was active. With that, he could see the house around him in perfect detail if he choose. But he kept his attention on the woman in front of him. "Satisfied?" She didn't respond, only stared at his eyes. He felt uncomfortable, and wanted to look away. But he didn't.

The woman didn't answer his question. "Do you know why I am out here?"

"I expect you enjoy solitude," Itachi answered, not sure where she was headed.

"Well I do now. But it wasn't always this way. I was cast out from Kohona by a man of your blood." Itachi felt that she was accusing him more than telling him.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Itachi said. "Why did he do it?"

"It was a long time ago, and the details are fuzzy. But there is something that isn't fuzzy to me. I hate the Uchiha. You are a disgusting lot. I can remember the terror of Madara Uchiha, the sadism of Izuna Uchiha, and the soulless pragmatism of Fugaku Uchiha, who marred his own cousin to keep the family money!" Itachi felt the sting of hearing his own father criticized, and his blood boiled at hearing her criticize his mother.

"You don't know what you're-" Itachi began.

"You have nothing that I want! Begone, Uchiha! Begone!" She was raving.

Itachi slammed his fist on her table. "I have walked a long way to come here, and I will not leave empty handed." Again, the touch of his younger brother flashed through his mind. His drive was greater than ever. "Now the spell that I'm asking for will be used to effectively end the Uchiha line. Sasuke and I have no interest in having children. If you take this bargain, you'll hurt the Uchiha more than ordering me out ever would."

She looked thoughtful for a moment, but a defiant gleam still lingered in her eye. Itachi decided that now was the time to play his hand. He pulled out the bottle of wine from his cloak, then pulled out two more. He slammed each of them on the table. "When I leave here today, I will not leave with nothing," Itachi said. "Now will three bottles suffice?" He tightened his grip on the third bottle, trying to ebb his quick-building anger.

She smirked. "You sly fox. I had you pegged as a frightened child. But you can play." Her voice trailed off. She reached for the bottles again, and Itachi put his hand in front of them.

"The spell, first," He said. Now that he had total control of her, he sat taller in his chair. "And then I will be responsible for ending the Uchiha line. We will both come out ahead if you play along."

"Yes," She said slowly. "I'll do it for the chance to end the Uchiha line." Itachi thought it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him. Her lusty eyes never left the bottles.

"Do you have anything in mind?" Itachi asked. "I need to be on my way as soon as possible."

As if she was never angry in the first place, she nodded and said, "I have a spell in mind, yes. But it is complex. I will need some time to prepare it, then there will need to be a ritual." She scurried across the house to fetch something. Itachi gazed in amazement at what alcoholism has reduced that woman to. He glanced around her house, and saw a barrel in a back corner that was right next to her bed. He could only imagine some sort of alcohol was in it.

The witch returned with a black book. Itachi marveled at how cliche it was that a black book contained her curses and rituals. The servant women who used to scare him with stories of witches would be very happy, he decided.

"Ah yes, here it is," She said. "The spell of Unfortunate Circumstance. When uttered, this spell will place a curse on someone. This curse will follow them, changing their luck from good to bad and from bad to worse. The entire world will try to kill them, and most people will not be able to escape it for long."

"Sounds good," Itachi said. "What's the catch?" He had to be wary of the woman. Despite the fact that he had something she wanted, she still hated him for his mere birth.

"The catch is in the way the spell is cast," The witch said. "Curses can be placed on a person in one of two ways. One involves the use of dolls, but I won't go into that. I'd have to train you specially, and you haven't paid me enough. The other, however, is to say the spell while the person in in your line of sight."

"I see," Itachi said. "And this is all curses?"

The woman nodded, "Yes, this is all curses. But don't worry, you only need to say the spell under your breath." She spoke like a traveling merchant trying to sell his expensive wares. Itachi decided to treat her as if she was one.

"And what is this ritual that you mentioned? How is that involved in all of this?"

"That is the other downside of curses. In order to use it, you have to preform a ritual that will allow that particular magic flow through your veins. It's very much like your Sharingan. You can only use that magic if you were born to it. You can only use this magic with the aid of the ritual." She smiled cruelly. "And I promise, the ritual is not pleasant."

"How do I know you're not going to try to trick me?" Itachi asked.

"You don't," She said. "You can only hope that you made a good enough case in your favor."

Itachi looked at her intensely. He was seriously weighing his options. He knew that she could try to kill him if she wanted to, and he' d probably not know until it was too late. She had the alcohol anyway, and she hated him. But if his case was good enough, then he'd have everything he ever dreamed of. "Fine, do your ritual on me."

"Good, good." She walked into the kitchen and took out a very sharp, jagged knife. "This should be fun."


	2. Chapter 2

There was a great hall in the Uchiha Castle in which Fugaku Uchiha heard the requests and complaints of the peasants under his jurisdiction. They came from miles around, from within the walls of his own city Kohona or from an outlying village, to place their lives and struggles in Fugaku's hands. He sat in a chair at the back of the Hall that was made of gray stone, like the walls, column, and floor around it. The room was dark and had a dingy feel to it, save for the well illuminated sigil behind him. The Uchiha fan, taller than three men, looked down on those who came to petition him. It supported Fugaku and gave him weight.

Before him, a merchant complained about the most recent hike in taxes. Fugaku's patience was short. "My Lord, at the prices that I and many of my associates charge, your most recent increase on the weapon tax will surely decimate our sales. I have long held prices at this level, and am rather reputed for my fairness. How would it look if I suddenly began charging more? I daresay that my entire business will fall into ruin! My Lord-"

Raising his hand, "I've heard what I need to know, and I have more pressing matters to hear about. My minister," he indicated a man standing next to him, "Has informed me that I am to deal with a mass killing and a serial arsonist with an interest in farms today. The recent tax hike on your weapons, which were made with good reason, will not be affected by your testimony. Everything you have described is an obvious result of tax hikes, and I expected it. You have permission to leave." Fugaku turned to his minister, to be prepared for what would come next.

"But my Lord-" The merchant began.

His minister, Danzo, said, "Go now. We will hear no more of this. Do we need to make use of the guards?" He motioned to six armored men bearing the Uchiha crest on their breastplate, standing behind the throne, three to each side.

The merchant's defiance disappeared, and he said, "Sorry my Lord." He turned and scurried out of the hall.

As the next person, a poor farmer, walked into the hall, a door to the right of Fugaku opened. In strode a man who wore leather armor with no sleeves and a cat mask on his head. A symbol of two wisps, one large with a rounded finish and one small and almost linear, was tattooed on his arm. He wore the trappings of the Anbu Black Ops. Anbu is Fugaku Uchiha's most elite force of soldiers.

The man leaned down and whispered into Fugaku's ear, "Your son Itachi has been spotted coming in the western gate." The Anbu had their eyes and ears all over Uchiha Castle. Little happened that they didn't know about, and everything they knew, the Lord knew.

Fugaku nodded. "Thank you. You are dismissed." The man strode out of the room as quickly as he came in. "Danzo, take over this for me. Do not do anything drastic." Fugaku stood up to leave.

"My Lord?" The farmer, who was now upon them, asked in confusion.

Fugaku had forgotten about him. "Minister Danzo will hear what you have to say, good man. Don't worry, you're in good hands. Perhaps even better than my own."

Danzo bowed his head. "Thank you, my Lord, for your compliment and this honor." As he went to sit down in the stone chair, Fugaku strode out of the room.

Fugaku wound through the castle's halls at a striding pace that was somehow comparable to a layman's sprint. He went to the residential part of the castle, and to the one place where he thought Itachi would most likely be, Sasuke's room.

}0{

Sasuke lay on his bed clad in nothing more than his briefs. Itachi was supposed to be home today, and he wanted to be dressed for the occasion. To pass the time, he read a book that Itachi had lent him. He was jolted from the reading, however, by a booming series of knocks at the door.

"Who's there?"

"Your father. Now unlock this confounded door and let me in," He said emphatically. To make his point, he slammed on the door again. Sasuke opened the door, and his father barged in. "Where is he?"

"Who?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"Itachi. He was spotted coming back into the castle after his little disappearing act. I'd have thought he'd be here of all places." He was roaring.

Sasuke replaced in an icily monotone voice, "He's not here. Your banging was for nothing."

"Don't use a tone like that when addressing me. Now I know you know where he went! If he'd tell anybody, it would be his dear baby brother. Now tell me!" His eyes were bulging out of their sockets, and his body was shaking.

Sasuke had never seen him so angry, so he took a submissive tone. "Father, I don't. I'm just as in the dark as you are." Which wasn't a total lie. He knew what Itachi was doing, just not where he had gone to do it.

"You've been very calm about all of this. Itachi up and disappears for a few days, and you don't react at all? For someone as close to him as you, I'd have expected that you'd be at least worried." Sasuke felt like his suspect instead of his son.

He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. He had to be careful not to give anything away. "Itachi can take care of himself. He's a prodigy, remember?" He hoped that that word would call up memories of the day Itachi had been declared so by the professors and soldiers, and that would defuse Fugaku's anger.

Fugaku chucked ruefully. "Oh, I know. The two of you are, damn the ancestors." The acknowledgment made Sasuke brighten up slightly. "Maybe that's why you're so hard to discipline." Fugaku looked hard at Sasuke for a moment. "Are you sure you don't know?"

Sasuke nodded, "I'm sure."

"I suppose he even has his secrets from you. He can be a strange boy." After another moment, he said, "I apologize for accusing you. Itachi's absence has me a little worked up." He took some deep breaths. "I never get that way."

Sasuke shook his head. "Its fine, father. I understand," he said, glad that his tirade was over. Sasuke was shaking, though he hid it well. He wondered briefly is this is how Fugaku would react if he disappeared instead of Itachi.

Fugaku walked over to a chair on the wall opposite to Sasuke's bed, and sat down. "He'll be here eventually. Right?"

Sasuke sat on his bed, though he had a hard time relaxing. "I suppose so."

"And I suppose he'll tell you everything about his little adventure. And then you won't tell me a lick of it. And the two of you will have a laugh at the expense of your old man." He was obviously hurt, and Sasuke felt his heartstrings being tugged.

After a moment, he confirmed it. "No, I won't tell you." Fugaku seemed amused. "I won't betray his confidence. He needs someone he can talk to."

Fugaku leaned back in the chair. "That's what family is for, I suppose. I've got your mother, and Itachi has you." He saw that Sasuke had dropped the book on his bed. "What are you reading? I didn't know you read on your own."

"Itachi lent it to me."

Fugaku's eyes rolled. "Should have guessed."

"It's about the way that peasants think, and how different they are from us," Sasuke decided to capitalize on the change in subject. "Itachi told me to read it because I have that friend, Naruto."

"Servant boy? Yellow hair? Grandson of that trashy yet famous author?"

"Thats the one. After reading just the first half of this book, I've already realized that I've insulted Naruto's status on almost a daily basis without realizing. I'm what the book calls, 'out of touch'." Sasuke picked up the book, and began looking for his place again. "I was reading about how sometimes, they go to bed hungry. I hope Naruto doesn't."

Fugaku laughed. "Sixteen years old and it took you an academic book to realize these things?"

Sasuke shot a glare at his father. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Maybe a little. By the ancestors, you're naive. Tell me, what else has that book taught-"

Then the door to Sasuke's bedroom opened, and in walked Itachi. His black robes were in tatters, and he had bags under his eyes. His usually well kept ponytail was a tangled mess, and his handsome face was unusually unnerving. His eyes registered surprise at Fugaku's presence. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my castle," Fugaku said, strangely calm. "I can be anywhere I want. And this does seem to be the best place to find you, these days. Trying to sink your rebellious teeth into Sasuke?"

"I don't have time for this now," Itachi said, putting a hand to his forehead. "I'm going to say goodnight to Sasuke then go to bed. I'm tired."

"Not before telling me where in the name of our ancestors you've been. I do not take to this sort of think kindly. Sneaking off in the dead of the night? Disarming and leaving three members of the Anbu Black Ops unconscious? What a mess! You will tell me what it was all for."

Itachi looked him dead in the eye. "I won't because you have no reason to know, old man. You won't get a damn thing out of me." Itachi took a step forward. Sasuke held up his hand for him to stay where he was, dreading the confrontation that could very possibly ensue.

Fugaku's face was stalwart, but Sasuke knew him well enough to know when there was hurt in his eyes. Sasuke knew his heart was in the right place, but he knew that Itachi had to keep his whereabouts a secret at all costs. Sasuke pleaded, "Itachi, just see me tomorrow. Why not go to your room? You're tired."

Itachi's eyes flashed, but then became subdued. He looked at Sasuke, then at Fugaku, then said, "Fine." He turned to leave, but Fugaku wasn't done.

"You'll leave after you tell me where you've gone." Itachi kept walking. "Itachi! Listen here!" But Itachi was already out of the room. Fugaku struggled to stand up, the soft chair wasn't easy on his aging body, and he started after Itachi. But by the time he got to the door, Itachi wasn't even in sight. "Damn boy."

Sasuke leaned back in his bed, sighing lightly. Their night was ruined. "He's gone, isn't he?" Fugaku nodded. "He works fast."

"Indeed," Fugaku said. His mind seemed to be in a world all his own. "I'm going to check his room."

"He won't be there," Sasuke said.

"And I suppose you know where he'll be."

"Yes," Sasuke said slowly, and with care.

"And I suppose you'll go there once I'm gone? You won't wait until tomorrow?" Sasuke nodded. Fugaku let out yet another sigh, and Sasuke mused that Fugaku had done a lot of sighing lately. "Well there's not much I can do about that. Like you said, he needs a confidant. I'll leave so you can go." Sasuke got out of bed to change is robe for a cloak. But as he was leaping out of bed, Fugaku said, "Sasuke."

"Yes?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't ask much of you, so please promise me one thing. If he's in over his head, or doing anything dangerous, get him the help he needs."

'I am the help he needs,' Sasuke thought. 'The only help.' But to Fugaku, he said, "Of course."

Fugaku smiled at him, satisfied. Sasuke felt a warm glow in him, and with a start he realized it was the glow of fatherly approval."Thank you, Sasuke. I couldn't bear the thought of anything bad happening to either one of you." And with that, he left. And Sasuke was left there trying to hold on to any scrap of that warm glow that he'd felt in ages.

}0{

The Uchiha Castle was an overbearing monolith with seven floors in the main structure and more than 13 to each of the four towers. Along with that were sprawling gardens that began in the front of the castle, cradled it on the sides, and then met in the back and extended for a mile away from the castle. It was rumored that the gardens were woven with magic, and that the first Uchiha ancestor had planted some of the larger trees himself. Lords and ladies from all over the Shinobi Kingdoms came to see them. Poets drew inspiration from their natural beauty, and young lovers longed for one day or night in their fold. Itachi and Sasuke were fortunate enough to call them home.

At night, when they wanted to be alone, they would go to the gardens together. It was where they shared their first kiss, where they decided made love for the first time, and where they decided to stay true to each other until the end of their lives. Their entire relationship, from the time Sasuke was thirteen and Itachi, sixteen, until now, three years later, could be traced by going to various parts of the garden.

It was where Itachi sat, in wait for Sasuke in one of the denser parts of the gardens. Surrounded by large willow trees and sharp bamboo stalks, his presence was obscured from the outside world. He sat in a small clearing that he had made himself three years prior, so that he and Sasuke could meet in private and have a common spot. It was a place that one would naturally check if looking for the other.

As expected, Itachi saw Sasuke walking toward him in almost no time. He was dressed in a black cloak with the hood up, and his eyes were aimed slightly at the ground. His Sharingan was active, much like Itachi's. The moment Sasuke caught a glimpse of his brother, he sprinted toward him. Itachi stood up from the tree root he had been sitting on just as Sasuke crushed him in a hug. Itachi hugged gently back, holding Sasuke as if he was a fragile doll. They stood that way in silence, basking in the other's presence.

When the hug finally broke, Sasuke that broke the silence. "You and father really went at it today, huh?"

"We're having more of those kinds of encounters than ever," Itachi replied. "I think he's loosing faith in me. I'm not the apple of his eye that I once was." The words were heavy, and he felt their full weight. The days where he'd train with his father were long gone. The false conflict of their sparring seemed a distant memory, overpowered by the real conflict that they were engaged in now. "What did he say to you about it?"

"He's worked out for himself that you tell me everything."

"Doesn't take a genius. We could afford to be a bit more discreet."

"So long as we hide what we do out here, I see no issue with people knowing we're close. Father isn't even angry with me. I think he's actually glad that you tell me things. He's probably happy it's staying in the family."

"Oh, he has no idea," Itachi said, leaning down to kiss his brother's soft lips gently. Itachi's heart fluttered as he wrapped his arms once more around Sasuke, one around his back and the other around his waist, claiming the boy as his own. Sasuke pressed into the kiss, and it slowly became more passionate as they unleashed all of their fears and anxieties into it. Their fear of their father, their fear of marriage and separation, and their hatred of being apart.

When Itachi broke from it, Sasuke leaned in for more, but was met with a finger to his lips. "Not now. I have to show you the fruits of my journey. And," he paused, carefully. "We have a few choices to make."

Sasuke backed up and sat down on the ground. Itachi sat with him. He reached into his cloak's pocket, and withdrew a small scarp of paper. "This paper contains a spell on it. When I utter this spell, people will become extremely unlucky. The entire world will conspire to kill them. It is the best way to kill people because it can't be traced back to us."

Sasuke's eyes bulged. "Kill?"

Itachi nodded, solemnly. "This is what the witch gave me. I questioned her, and even peeked through her books. Nothing is as sure as this. Killing seems to be our only option."

"Why not learn more spells? We could run a gambit, see what works and what doesn't!"

Itachi shook his head. "There are two ways to use a spell she said. One of them involves dolls, and she's not teaching me that secret. She probably wants to keep it for herself. The other involves a ritual. That is why I was gone for so long. She had to put a marking that is laced with magic on my back so that I can even use this singular spell. And she says that the more I get, the more risky it becomes."

"Well we're not having that," Sasuke said. "But Itachi, it sounds like she tricked you."

"I let her think that. She figured out that I was an Uchiha, and she hates us all. I'm probably lucky to be alive, but I wanted to get out of there with something instead of nothing. This may not be ideal, but it's all we have." He placed the piece of paper on the ground. "The question is, do we use it?"

Sasuke picked up the piece of paper. "Kill? Itachi are we going to kill people?"

Itachi waited for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. He had thought about not much else for his entire walk back, but still hadn't come to a conclusion. He decided to just put his ideas on the table. "Sasuke, we're two men, and we're brothers. What do you think would happen to us if people found out about us loving each other?"

"We've discussed this," Sasuke's face fell. "Father would disown us. Mother would be powerless to stop him. And people would hate us. We'd be outcasts from society."

"If we were lucky," Itachi challenged. "There's also a chance they'd just kill us."

"Yes, there is that chance," Sasuke admitted after a moment.

"I was thinking about this. Why is it wrong to kill people who would simply kill us? Especially when we're protecting the very thing that would give them motivation? The way I see it, it's us or them. And I'd choose us over the entire world."

Sasuke rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb, meeting them on the bridge of his nose. He sat in that position for a while. Itachi wanted to know what he was thinking, what his thought process was. He wanted to help him make that choice. "Tell me what you're feeling right now."

"I'm not," He said. "I feel numb. I'm just so weirded out that we're actually going to do something so extreme."

"So you think we should do it, then?"

Sasuke crawled over to Itachi and then curled up in his lap. He leaned against his brothers chest, and rested his head in the crook of his neck. "I don't want to do this. But we have to, don't we?"

"Yes little brother, I think we do."

Sasuke handed the piece of paper to Itachi. "Then memorize these words. And we'll use them to secure our future. We'll use them for us." And so with a heart heavy with the weight of the task ahead, Itachi began to memorize the words.


End file.
